Technology in the Focus Classroom

Learn how and why we add technology into the Focus classroom. Your adventure is about to begin. You will basically go on an online scavenger hunt to answer your questions today! Enjoy. Have fun. Work quietly and take notes! You will turn in all your questions at the end of the class period.

You  want an iPad more than anything. For your research paper you have  chosen to write on how technology has shaped learning in schools.  Secretly you hope that when your parents read your paper they are  convinced that having an iPad would make you a stronger student. Your  paper needs to include  a title.

There are 5 parts to this task:

1. Use three different search engines to locate and retrieve information
2. Conduct background research on technology in education
3. Evaluation two websites for reliability
4. Find examples of schools who are using iPads and how it is affecting students and teachers

Make sure you read through all five tasks before beginning. Some of them are concurrent, which means you might work on a few at the same time rather than in order. Use this worksheet to help you.

1. Use three different search engines to locate and retrieve information

Different search engines yield different results. If you limit yourself to only one then you are limiting the information you obtain. To demonstrate this, type “google in the classroom” in the three search engines listed below. Make sure you include the quotes in order to keep both words together in your results. On your worksheet, write down the titles of the first three entries from each search engine.  How do the results compare?

SweetSearch4me http://google.com

KidsClick http://www.kidsclick.org

Gogooligans http://www.gogooligans.com

2. Conduct background research on technology in education

Before  writing your paper you will need to spend some time learning about  how technology is affecting  education today. The following links should give you a good start but you  are welcome to use other sources. Please choose at least three sources  of information and record them on your worksheet.

Articles                      

Technology in Education http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/

Technology Impacts on Education worldwide http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8508040.stm

Why Technology in Schools? http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/why-technology-in-schools

Can Technology Replace Teachers? http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/why-technology-in-schools

Videos                      

EdTech overview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdwEIi22Dv8&feature=player_embedded/

21st Century classroom http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdwEIi22Dv8&feature=player_embedded

Presentation                      

History of EdTech http://www.slideshare.net/carlaminchilli/ict-applied-to-english-teaching-5106334

3. Evaluate two websites for reliability

In his book Web Literacy for Educators Alan November suggests answering these questions for each website you visit:

• Is the information on the site helpful? Yes/No
• Does the site have more resources and links? Do the links work? Yes/No
• Is the site up to date? Can I tell when it was last updated? Yes/No
• Is the information correct? Yes/No
• Are the facts different from information I have found elsewhere? Yes/No

                        Evaluate these two websites for reliability. Fill out your answers on the worksheet.

http://www.csulb.edu/~murdock/histofcs.html

http://www.kids.gov/k_5/k_5_computers.shtml

4. Find examples of schools who are using iPads and how it is affecting students and teachers

Using the search engines noted above find three sources demonstrating how iPads are being used in the classroom. Take notes and record where you obtained the information on your worksheet.